Running the Replication Process › Synchronize Master and Replica Servers › How Offline Synchronization Works › Perform Full System High Availability Scenarios

Perform Full System High Availability Scenarios

Use this method of offline synchronization when the production data set is very large and the WAN link does not have enough throughput to allow for a synchronization of the total data set in a reasonable amount of time.

The offline synchronization process creates VSS snapshots of the volume that resides in the root directory on the Master server. By default, Arcserve RHA mounts the root directory to the location where the RHA Engine was installed, such as the C:\ drive. The following example illustrates the location of the VSS snapshot files when the offline synchronization process runs:

C:\OfflineSyncMountPoint\<scenarioID>\E_volume

For the Replica server, you create another File Server DR scenario to replicate from the external device into the target root directory. For example, E:\Data on the Replica server. Optionally, you can perform a Robocopy, (robust file copy), a file copy, or any other copy methods from the Master mounted snapshot volume, and then manually copy the data from the external drive into the target folder on the Replica server after you transferred the drive.

Follow these steps:

1. Configure a scenario in the usual manner.
2. When you reach the final stage in the Scenario Creation Wizard, do not click Run Now. Instead, click Finish.
3. From the Manager, click Run. The Run dialog opens.
4. Select Offline Synchronization and click OK.

   After the scenario begins, the Event Console displays the path to the data so you can perform the manual copy. Arcserve RHA takes a VSS snapshot so you can copy data with no impact to the production data set.

   1. The master volume generates VSS and you can find data at C:\OfflineSyncMountPoint\<scenario ID>\.

      Note: You can customize the root volume by configuring the SnapshotStorageVolume value in ws_rep.cfg.

   2. On the replica, the disk volume is generated and then mounted as <install path>\Engine\vm\<scenario ID>\<volume ID>\.
   3. You should copy all data from master to replica mount point. Manually copy data from the VSS path created on the master to an external device or optical media (DVD-R, CD-R). Physically transport the external media to the Replica server.

   During transport, the production dataset caches any changes in the source data in the Replica spool.

5. Copy the data that is stored on the external media to the correct root directory on the Replica server.

   Use a copy utility such as xcopy or fastcopy to copy all master server files and folders from the OfflineSyncMountPoint folder to the replica folder <install path>\Engine\vm\<scenario ID>\<Volume>.

   xcopy [Source] [Destination] /E /C /H /R
   

6. After the files are copied, Click Tools, Offline Sync Management to open the Offline Sync Management dialog.
7. Select or clear the "Ignore Files of Same Time/Size" check box and click OK.
8. When the block synchronization process starts, events are shown in the Event Console. When the process is complete, the Synchronization status changes to Replication. Any changes cached in spool on the Replica during the offline sync are now committed to the Replica and deleted from the spool.